Digital BangladeshResearch Ideas

Dhaka May 2015

Bangladesh PrioritiesWORKING WITH 30-50 economists including Nobel Laureates, 100+ sector experts engaging major development organizations, NGOs, government, businesses, youths, rural and urban Bangladeshis to identify, analyze and prioritize interventions that will deliver greater benefit per taka spent, helping move Bangladesh towards Vision 2021 and a more prosperous long term future.

In cooperation with the Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC,

Copenhagen Consensus Center organized roundtable discussions with

an aim to figure out smarter solutions to the most problematic issues facing

Bangladesh.

These roundtables are one of several sources

for research ideas.

Sourcing ideas and solutions

Smarter solutions for Bangladesh

Complete set of papers on 30-50 solutions

PRIORITIZATION

Government NGOs

Academia Pvt sector

Think tanks Developmentorganizations

Eminent Panel Assessment

Government and donor seminars

Rural polls Newspaper pollsamong readers

Youth forums across the

countryPrivate sector

meetings

Social, economic and environmental benefit-cost

research by top Bangladeshi, and

international economistsExtensive peer review by

sector experts and academics

100+ ideas on policies & investments

2016

2015

Continuous engagement

with the public via electronic,

print and social media

Working with civil society, government and sector

experts

Widely advocating results of

prioritization exercises

OUTREACH

Research Ideas

Digital Bangladesh;(1 of 8)

• Provide tax incentives for expansion of IT/ITES industry. • Ease restrictions on payment for freelancer workers.• Improve management of intellectual property rights

(IPR).• Integrate IPR with Equity Entrepreneurship Fund (EEF)

for valuation of intangible assets.• Increase consumers’ willingness to buy non-anti-virus

software.• Emulate RMG experience to boost IT entrepreneurship.

Digital Bangladesh;(2 of 8)

• Education quality improvement through IT-enabled learning in all classrooms.

• Building ICT capacity of teachers in primary and secondary education.

• Making appropriate use of ICTs in training programs.• Expanding IT graduate pool.• Capacity building of madrasa teachers in using ICT and

computer aided learning.• Equip government approved Madrasas with multimedia

classrooms. • Mandatory vocational ICT education for dropouts.

Digital Bangladesh; (3 of 8)

• Support and scale TCV (time, cost and visit) innovation process technique.

• Continue expanding public services through Union Digital Centers (UDC).

• Activate urban service delivery access points following the UDC model.

• Provide financial support to Chief Innovation Officers (CIOs) and Innovation Teams.

• Creation of a civil registry to be used by all public and NGO service delivery organizations.

• Set up electronic dashboards with administrative alerts under a whole-of-government framework.

Digital Bangladesh; (4 of 8)

• Expand e-Filing system to all offices of the government.

• Integrate human resources, payroll, leave, study tour, and training management with e-Filing.

• Provide free eHealth services by using the ‘Aponjon’ (the close/dear one in Bangla) database.

• Design and implement a digital rights policy.• Use of mobile phones as a radio device for

disseminating public information, especially in times of emergencies and natural disasters.

• Establishment of more community radio stations across all divisions.

Digital Bangladesh; (5 of 8)• Adopt measures to exchange and share government

data both vertically and horizontally.• Provide ICT training to constables and all ASI officers

who have direct interface with citizens.• Design a uniform system for digital recording of

complaints.• Improve crime data management system (CDMS)

across all district and divisional headquarters. • Build capacity of law enforcement agencies in

prosecuting cybercrimes. • Protect citizens from breach of privacy, security and

fraudulent activities.

Climate Change; (6 of 8)• Establish reliable and secure internet infrastructure

across Bangladesh. • Increase financial support to Service Innovation Fund

(SIF).• Reduce tax on broadband.• Universalize mobile broadband access.• Establish ICT infrastructure through an open market

approach.• Create local digital contents to correspond to local

problems and demands.

Digital Bangladesh; (7 of 8)• Formalize use of UDC Blog as a grievance redressal

mechanism within the government structure.• Digital processing of ongoing legal cases.• Create home-grown mechanisms to increase youth’s

participation in Digital Bangladesh programs.• Using BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab as a PPP platform.• Conduct a cost-benefit analysis scrutiny, based on the

TCV parameters, for prioritizing implementation of Digital Bangladesh projects.

• Adopt a localized cybersecurity model.

Digital Bangladesh; (8 of 8)• Monitor implementation of ICT Master Plan and ICT

Policy.• Creation of local anti-virus software.• Forecast Digital Bangladesh’s requirements of teachers,

doctors, economists, etc.• Establish the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park.• Rollout Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA) for e-

wallet and digital financial transactions.• Use of social media to increase government-to-citizen

and vice versa interactions.• Provide online information as well as forms, applications,

and other documentation for all public services.

Full List of Attendees and Interviewees Ananya Raihan, Executive Director, D.Net.Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, Prime Minister’s Office.Asif Saleh, Director of Communications and Head of Social Innovation Lab at BRAC and BRAC International.Hasan Sarwar, Professor, United International University.Fokhruz Zaman, Consultant, Leveraging ICT Project (World Bank).KAM Morshed, Assistant Country Director, UNDP Bangladesh.Nazrul Islam, Secretary (Coordination and Reforms), Cabinet Division.Radwan Siddiqi, Trustee, Center for Research and Information (CRI).Rokon Zaman, Professor, North South University.

Sabbir Ahmed, Executive Director, Center for Research and Information (CRI).Sami Ahmed, Executive Director, BASIS.S.M. Ashraful Islam, Executive Director, Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC).